Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 59
House Sitting for a Baron I went over to my daughter’s place for a visit, so she left town. I guess that’s not precisely what happened: I was asked to “house sit,” as if her home needed supervision to keep it from jumping on the furniture and staying up past its bedtime. It sounds pretty benign, until you consider that inside the house are two cats and two dogs — one of which is a puppy named Baron. To be more precise, Baron is a 9-month-old Great Dane, so when I say “puppy,” I mean “mastodon.” This is an animal that with a little training c... Full story
#!*! Slow drivers who speed up when they come to a passing lane. YYYY Yes. The Colfax tennis court is inviting and fun to use again. #!*! The good citizens of Colfax who use the Grandmother’s shop rear entrance as their personal landfill. Shame on you. Send your Pet Peeves and Okeydokes to the Gazette P.O. Box 770 211 N. Main St Colfax, Wa 99111...
The Gazette welcomes letters to the editor and invites you to express yourself. The letters column represents an important forum for the public expression of ideas, concerns and matters of importance. Letters must carry an original signature and include the writer's name, address and telephone number. Letters to the editor will be edited for libel, objectionable material and length. Letters to the Editor The Gazette, P.O. Box 770, Colfax, WA 99111 or bring them by the office...
Militant groups in the United States are seeing a revival. The groups are growing at the fastest pace in a decade, says the Southern Poverty Law Center. Groups are gaining members, and new groups are forming. Experts suggest it is a phenomenon resulting from disenchantment with government and its perceived liberal agenda, a poor economy and perhaps even the fact that the president is black. The groups are using the new electronic communications of YouTube and the internet to recruit and promote their beliefs. For many of the groups, violence...
The History Channel • On Aug. 24, 79 A.D., after centuries of dormancy, Mount Vesuvius erupts in southern Italy, devastating prosperous Roman cities nearby and killing thousands. The city of Pompeii was buried under 14 to 17 feet of ash and pumice, while Herculaneum was buried under more than 60 feet of mud and volcanic material. • On Aug. 25, 1835, the first in a series of six hoax articles announcing the discovery of life on the moon appears in the New York Sun newspaper. The articles were supposedly reprinted from the Edinburgh Journal of... Full story
Dead People Get Mail? Just when you thought you had heard everything, you immediately find out that you haven’t. Especially when it comes to people who we can’t hear from anymore, mainly because they aren’t here anymore. What in the world am I talking about? A new concept that has to do with places out of this world by people who are apparently out of their minds. The company is called “Afterlife Telegrams.” Yep; the name pretty much says it all. If you’ve got a few bucks ($5 a word), you can have a ‘telegram’ delivered to someone who has died....
Less than a week remains before ballots are due to winnow down the field of five candidates for the 9th District’s position one seat in the state House of Representatives to two. The five in the race possess similar credentials – all having backgrounds in agriculture and business – and similar points of view on topics such as funding education, land use policy and the need to create a more vibrant business climate. Candidates Susan Fagan, R-Pullman, Pat Hailey, R-Mesa, Glen Stockwell, D-Ritzville, Art Swannack, R-Lamont and Darin Watkins, R-Pal...
State will offer tags to fish with 2 poles Beginning this Saturday, people fishing in Washington will be able to use two poles to fish in state lakes. Two-pole endorsement option will apply to the majority of the 8,000 fishing lakes, ponds and reservoirs in Washington state. Certain waters with threatened species or lakes designated as juvenille-only fishing will be excluded from the two-pole program. The list of 145 excluded lakes and ponds is available online at:http://wdfw.wa.gov/licensing/twopole/ Two-pole endorsements will be available... Full story
This catch was one of the highlights of a 75th fishing trip birthday present for Stan McClintock of Colfax. The sturgeon was boated below Hell’s Canyon dam. Holding the vintage water warrior, from the left, are Don McClintock, Scott Ackerman, Stan McClintock, Robert Smith and Jake Ackerman. The fish was released soon after the trophy shot.... Full story
Coach Phil Weagraff, who headed the Garfield/Palouse softball program since its conversion to fastpitch, has resigned. Weagraff headed the Vikings for seven years including trophy finishes in the last three state tournaments. His final game at the helm was a battle with Mossy Rock which extended into overtime at the state finals at the Gateway Sports Complex in Yakima. The two teams were literally the last B division clubs to wrap up their seasons. Garfield/Palouse finished in fourth place in their first season among the 2B power clubs. They...
Bob Clements, who has been a coach at St. John/Endicott for 20 years, will move up to the head coaching slot for Eagles football this fall. Clements will take over the head job which has been vacated by Coach Joey McCanna. McCanna, a wildlife biologist for Washington Fish & Wildlife, has been assigned to the office in Spokane Valley. The time constraints of commuting from St. John to Spokane make it impossible for him to coach the Eagles football team. Clements, who teaches vo-ag at St. John, has been an assistant to McCanna. In fact, he was an...
Scott Thompson, a one-time QB at Garfield/Palouse, will take over as head football coach of the Vikings when the practice season launches next week. Thompson, who joined the faculty at GP last year, will take the coaching slot vacated by Coach Mike Burt who led the Vikings into the playoffs last season, the first for GP in the B-11 category. Burt bowed out after last season because a job promotion at WSU made it impossible to find time to head the football program. He normally carved out some of his coaching hours by converting vacation time,...
This 1946 Indian displayed by Larry Eicholdt of Spokane won best of show honors from viewers who cast ballots after viewing the entrants. (See more photos on Pages 5 and 6 A in the Weekly Paper section) Motorcycle rodeo competitors ran through a full slate of events Saturday after waiting a couple of extra hours for the arena grounds at the Palouse Empire Fairground at Mockonema to dry out. The arena had been drenched the day before by Friday’s rains. The rodeo was part of a three-day rally which was sponsored by the Northwest Classic M... Full story
Zach Lanham of Tensed has been hired as Tekoa’s new building inspector. The previous inspector, Stan Kittock of Spokane, resigned because his job hours in Spokane increased to the point where he could no longer make it down to Tekoa, according to City Clerk Kynda Browning. Tekoa normally needs a building inspector on six or seven projects a month. Lanham owns Iron Mountain Construction, and works on jobs throughout Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, and Moscow. Tekoa will send Lanham to classes to learn more about building inspection before he beg...
Port of Whitman commissioners renewed Don Tilton’s contract to act as the agency’s Innovation Partnership Zone administrator for another year. Tilton, head of the Green IT Alliance, will continue to oversee purchases and activities at the port’s Innovation Partnership Zone. All large purchases must be approved by Port officials. Tilton’s company is attempting to develop and integrate green energy to power a high-powered data center based in a port-owned building in the Pullman Industrial Park. In 2007, the port was awarded a $1 million grant t...
A presentation on all aspects of Medicare will be presented in the annex of Whitman Hospital and Medical Center Sept. 22 beginning at noon. Kathy Dugan, a program specialist with the Statewide Health Insurance Benefits Advisors (SHIBA) HelpLine will provide information regarding all aspects of Medicare with a focus on Medicare Part D and the low income subsidy. The SHIBA Helpline in Whitman and Spokane Counties is sponsored by Aging and Long Term Care of Eastern Washington. Dugan said the presentation is designed to prepare participants for...
Colton’s school crosswalk signs may get a makeover by October after the Department of Transportation said they were no longer up to state standards. Colton was awarded $7,500 a month ago from the state DOT to buy equipment for new, up-to-code signs, and then to maintain them once they are installed. Approximately $1,500 is still needed to install the signs, and at their meeting Aug. 3, Colton city council members decided to ask the school to pay for the installation. “I feel like we’ve done our part,” said Mayor Jerry Weber at the meeting. The... Full story
Whitman County taxing districts stand to reap millions of dollars in tax revenue with little or no increased costs if large scale wind farms are sited here. So said an Ellensburg wind advocate to county officials last Thursday. “Everyone is recognizing this is a private economic stimulus for the county,” said Debbie Strand, spokesperson for WindWorks! Northwest. “Wind farms provide a large amount of economic activity and tax revenue for local taxing districts.” “And the turbines don’t go to school. They don’t commit crimes. They don’t demand...
Lynette McCanna of St. John, a former nurse at Whitman Hospital has joined the staff at Whitman Medical Group as a nurse practitioner. McCanna was a nurse at the Whitman Hospital for 12 years. She joined the medical staff as nurse practitioner after earning a master’s at Gonzaga University. “I think it was just the next step to seeing people at the next step in their life,” she said, pointing out that a nurse practitioner sees people for more preventative medical measures versus a nurse who often sees people after their illnesses have progr...
Colton city council last week authorized Public Works Director Bill Frye to get a cost estimate for lowering a pump in one of the city’s wells. Because of a drop in the water table, the pump, which is located 100 feet below the surface, keeps shutting down. Automatic sensors shut the pump off when the water level in the well drops too low. Frye said the water table drop is believed to be the result of Colton’s adherence to a state mandate to pump 85,000 gallons a day into Union Flat Creek. The mandate is the result of Colton’s role in tradi...
THURSDAY Four Guantanamo prisoners who were released to Bermuda in June have been given jobs tending a public golf course on the tiny Atlantic island. The four members of China’s Muslim Uighur minority began working last week to help prepare the lush, seaside Port Royal course to host the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in October. Officials with the European Organization for Nuclear Research announced the Large Hadron Collider - the biggest and most complex machine ever made – will restart at a lower energy level in November. The $9.4 billion mac... Full story
Two Whitman County deputies, Dan Brown and Keith Cooper, may take over police duties in Oakesdale to fill a gap expected with the anticipated departure of Marshal John Goyke. The two would provide a total of about 20 hours per week. Goyke has resigned to move to San Antonio, Texas. Brown and Cooper, who both work as full-time deputies for Whitman County, will know for sure if they get the job at the next city council meeting Aug. 17. Their work in Oakesdale would be an independent arrangement. Brown said they wouldn’t be affiliated with the cou...
John Goyke, the Oakesdale marshal who holds a unique duty mark in Whitman County law enforcement, plans to depart next month for San Antonio, Texas, to begin a new chapter in his life. Goyke noted the San Antonio area has a growing economy, and he hopes to land a position which will generate more income. Goyke two years ago served the police departments for Oakesdale, Rosalia and Malden at the same time. Budget constrictions ended the Malden and Rosalia positions, and Goyke has been a combination marshal and public works employee at Oakesdale....
With one week remaining until election day, most Whitman County voters had yet to decide on issues in the primary election. Whitman County’s election department had received 4,210 completed ballots in the all-mail election as of Tuesday. That equates to just over 20 percent of the 20,268 ballots mailed out to registered voters. In addition to the completed ballots, 2,252 ballots were returned because they could not be delivered. Most of those were from students in Pullman. Deadline for the primary election is Aug. 18. Ballots postmarked a... Full story
Northwest MedStar has added two new critical care ambulances to its fleet of emergency vehicles. Northwest MedStar primarily uses its fleet of helicopters to transport critically ill and injured patients to Spokane hospitals. The company, a service of Inland Northwest Health Services, operates three helicopters and three airplanes. The ambulances will be used to transport critical patients to Spokane hospitals when weather prevents helicopter flights. The extra long frame of the ambulances is designed to handle hard weather conditions. Through...
